


Stray and Superboy

by glaciya



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, First time writing this pair be gentle, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Stray Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 11:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaciya/pseuds/glaciya
Summary: “And what do you think about me liking you?” He tries to sound more confident than he is, but his voice cracks a bit halfway through his sentence.“You don’t know enough about me to have feelings like that.”“That’s not the way these kinds of things work,” Kon sighs. “You didn’t answer my question.”“I think you deserve better than to like me,” Tim's voice is blank like he’s merely stating another fact. “And you’d agree if actually knew me.”





	Stray and Superboy

**Author's Note:**

> Request Fill from Tumblr for Tim/Kon with Tim as Stray + Angst :) *I'll have to go back and edit this at a later time, I just wanted to go ahead and post tonight so I apologize for any typos!

“Getting colder,” Stray’s voice taunts from the comm in Kon’s ear, the former having hacked the line not long after Kon had arrived to the museum to put a stop to Stray’s in progress theft. Stray had been hidden from sight when he got there, but apparently couldn’t resist staying behind to tease. 

Kon growls in frustration, scanning the room with his x-ray vision to no avail. He can hear Stray’s heart beating, a little too fast to match his almost bored tone earlier, but Kon can’t quite pinpoint where it is with the sounds of San Francisco at night around them. He spins in a circle, confused beyond belief at why he can hear Tim close by, but he can’t see him. 

Stray’s chuckle gives him away, the noise loud enough that Kon can finally locate him, sitting high on a realistic t-rex display. Kon feels foolish for not thinking to look up earlier, but he doesn’t let  himself dwell on it, crouching and leaping before Stray can do more than make a surprised noise. 

Kon tackles Stray off of the display, keeping careful both not to hurt the display or Stray as they fall to the ground. Because of Kon twisting to take the blunt of the impact when they land, Stray has time to get in the first few hits of the fight. But, thanks to Superman’s DNA, Kon has all the advantages in a close up fight, and it’s almost disappointingly easy how fast he’s able to take Stray down.

“What were you even trying to steal out of a prehistoric museum?” Kon asks, as they wait for the cops to arrive. 

“Who said I was trying to steal anything?” Stray doesn’t seem bothered at all to be tied up and waiting to be arrested. He hadn’t even struggled after the initial fight as Kon cuffed his hands behind his back, the look in his eyes behind his goggles making Kon feel like he was being played with somehow.

“Just because we aren’t in Gotham doesn’t mean I haven’t heard of you, Stray.” Kon rolls his eyes. “You steal items and information and turn them for profit.”

“Not always,” Stray sighs, something like melancholy in his voice. “Maybe I just wanted to see the dinosaurs.”

“You would have come earlier, when it was actually open in order to do that.” Kon’s not sure why he’s even making conversation with Stray. He doesn’t usually care enough to talk to criminals he apprehends. 

“Why would I do something so civilian when I have the means to see it all by myself?”

“Because then you get arrested for breaking and entering, at the very least,” Kon says, and for some reason that makes Stray laugh. 

“But then I wouldn’t have gotten to meet you.” Stray smiles at him. It’s a very nice smile. 

A response is lost to Kon for a moment too long as he stares at Stray’s perfect teeth. He snaps himself out of it and turns quickly away. “The police should be here any moment,” he says, a reality reminder for the both of them.

“Nah.” Stray’s movement draws Kon’s attention back to him and he watches as Stray crosses him arms over his knees, the cuffs laying useless on the floor beside him. “I disabled your police signal when I hacked your comms.”

“Batman designed the security systems in those.”

“I know.” Stray sounds just as smug as he should be, and Kon can’t help but be a little impressed.

They should be fighting now. A hero and a villain should never be sitting comfortable side by side, shoulders almost brushing with their proximity. But then again, Kon has never felt much like a hero, at least not compared to Superman anyway. And Stray isn’t like any other villain he’s come across. 

Stray pulls his phone out to check the time on it. “Looks like it’s about time for me to go,” he sounds regretful. 

And Kon doesn’t do anything to stop him as he watches Stray walk away. 

***

As it turns out, Stray wasn’t in town to cause any trouble. He had just been scoping out the Titans before offering his services to him. And no one is surprised whenever Nightwing introduces him as their new teammate. 

Everyone is wary at first, but it seems that Kon isn’t the only one without an immunity to Stray’s charm. He has a made up handshake with Bart by the end of the first day, an inside joke with Jaime on the second, and has a weekly appointment for a shopping spree with the girls set up by the end of his first week as a team member. But, it’s painfully obvious to everyone who is favorite is.

Kon and Stray are hardly seen one without the other. They eat together, train together, fight together. And Kon loves every second of it.

Except for days like today. Days where Kon’s had to put up with Superman and his awkward confused stares, like Kon should be the one with the answers. Like it’s Kon’s fault that he exists.

It’s days like this that he’d rather be left alone to the training room punching bags, made specifically to him. The rest of the titans would have left him alone, but even through the heavy thuds of Kon’s fist hitting its target, he can hear Stray’s heartbeat, loud and steady behind him. 

“What,” he finally snaps, “do you want?”

“Nothing more attractive than a troubled young man trying to sweat out his frustrations.”

“Come on, Tim,” he sighs. Stray’s civilian name still feels weird on his tongue. He expects Tim to turn around a leave once he’s been ignored long enough, they always do, so he’s not surprised at all when Tim starts to turn and walk away from him. But he is surprised when he feels disappointed about it.

However Tim pauses just before he leaves the room, pivoting in a half turn to face Kon. Kon grabs the bag to stop it from swinging and meets Tim’s gaze. 

“You are incredible,” Tim says, voice catching like the words are being forced out of him. “And  _ anyone _ who doubts that is an idiot.”

And all Kon can do is watch him leave, the disappointment that had taken residence in him fading to something warmer.

***

The next time he gets that feeling when looking at Tim, it’s almost flooded with jealousy. It happens as he watches a reunion hug between Tim and the new Batgirl, a blonde with a blatant favoritism toward the color purple. Blondie notices him staring from over Tim’s shoulder. She holds eye contact, smiles at him a little viciously, and tightens her grip on Tim. 

Kon smiles his own angry smile back at her, knowing she’s posturing because she knows he might be a threat. 

***

Tim finds him later, on the roof of Titan’s tower, watching the sunset over the ocean. He walks right up to the edge where Kon sits, and drops down so his legs can dangle over the edge. He looks good in the evening light, Kon decides when he looks over at him. The fading light of the sun casts a pink glow over him, making his eyes look violet and enhancing the inky black of his hair. 

“I had to convince Steph that she didn’t need to come up here herself to have a...conversation with you,” Tim says, staring out into the sea. 

Kon scowls at the familiar nickname Tim has for her. “Why did she want to talk? Is she your girlfriend?” After the words are out, Kon thinks maybe he should have been more subtle about his wording. 

Tim laughs, cool and sharp. “No, just a very protective friend. She thinks you don’t deserve to like me.” 

Kon’s face heats at his feelings being  spoken out loud. It hadn’t be a secret, but he still had pictured something more to come along with the words. But then again, like didn’t seem to be a strong enough word for his feelings either.

“And what do you think about me liking you?” He tries to sound more confident than he is, but his voice cracks a bit halfway through his sentence. 

“You don’t know enough about me to have feelings like that.”

“That’s not the way these kinds of things work,” Kon sighs. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I think you deserve better than to like me,” Tim's voice is blank like he’s merely stating another fact. “And you’d agree if actually knew me.”

“Well, why don’t you let me get to know you and decide what I deserve for myself?” Kon turns his hand so its lying palm up between them. 

Tim doesn’t take it for several long moments, making Kon feel like he’s swallowed a very large rock. But, just as Kon is about to pull his arm back into his lap and accept the rejection, Tim lays his hand on top of Kon’s, intertwining their fingers. 

“I guess we’ll see then,” Tim says, and Kon has to bite his lip to keep from arguing because he doesn’t want to ruin the moment. 

He just wishes Tim would know what Kon knows, that his feelings aren’t just going to go away. Because he doesn’t just like Tim Drake, he loves him.

***

He loves Tim when he’s tired from staying up too late to do research on a case, his eyelids saggy with sleep and his movements sloppy as he allows Kon to lead him to his bed. 

He loves Tim when he’s angry, even more so when he’s angry on Kon’s behave. He’s particularly fond of the memory of when Tim had come to his rescue after Lex had kidnapped him, red faced and seething as he fought through Lex’s men to get to him.

He loves Tim when he’s happy, smiling at one of Bart’s jokes and looking cozy in one of Kon’s shirts.

And he loves Tim still when he betrays the Titans and sells them out to Ra’s and his League of Assassins. 

The fight is long and brutal, and only stops when Batman, Robin, and Batgirl show up to fight alongside the Titans. No one finds out until much later that Tim had asked them to come. It appears that all had been pawns in whatever game Tim is playing. 

***

There’s no sign of Tim or Stray anywhere for weeks after the betrayal. Weeks that hurt worse than the time when he was stabbed with a kryptonite dagger. Nightwing has him take a mandatory leave until he can clear his head so he spends it at the Kent’s, keeping himself busy helping around the farm. It’s on his third night there that he finally sees Tim again. 

It’s late, and Kon has spent the last half hour tossing and turning in bed, trying to figure out why he can’t get to sleep. But then he hears it, Tim’s heart, beating steadily nearby. 

Kon’s in too much of a hurry to get dressed, so when he meets Tim on top of the barn, he’s only in his underwear. He can’t find it in him to be embarrassed though, even when Tim’s gaze trails down the length of his body. 

“You came back,” he states unnecessarily. 

“I didn’t plan to,” Tim replies. “But I was curious of what your answer was now.”

“I’m still in love with you if that’s what you’re asking,” Kon says, hearing the satisfying way Tim’s heart skips out of rhythm at his words. 

“And how do your Titans friends feel about that?”

“ _ Our _ Titan friends are hurt. They want to know why you did it.” 

“That would be a very long story.”

“I’ve got all night.”

“I don’t.”

Kon lets out a frustrated breath. “What’s your endgame, then?”

“To take down the League of Assassins right now.” 

“Didn’t you do that last night?”

“Last night was a huge step in the right direction,” Tim smiles, showing off how smug he is in his victory. “But it’s going to take more than that to bring them down.”

“Why didn’t you just ask us for help?” 

“In my experience, depending on people usually ends in disappointment.”

Something in Tim’s expression makes him want to reach out to touch him, to comfort him some how. So he does. He comforts Tim until the first rays of morning light are shining over the hills on the Kent farm, and when Tim leaves he does so without any promises of returning to him. 

But somehow Kon knows he will. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked this, feel free to leave a comment and/or a kudos and if you want to check out my Tumblr where I post previews for upcoming fics you can check that out here:  
> [Glaciya](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/glaciya)


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